If you’re a budget traveller looking to explore the beautiful country of Colombia in 3-4 weeks, then this is the article for you! Colombia offers everything from white sand beaches and lush jungle to bustling cities and thriving mountain towns. There is truly something for everyone in Colombia!

While we love the idea of slow travel, we usually end up spending only 2-4 nights in most towns in order to maximize the amount of new places we can see. And for us, this is perfect! If we ever feel like we need more time somewhere, it’s usually pretty easy to extend the stay in whatever hostel we find ourselves in. This is why we recommend leaving some room to adjust your itinerary after you arrive. You never know which small town might capture your heart!

Cartagena (2 nights)

The first stop on our itinerary is Cartagena. We flew in from New York and landed around 2pm, and by the time we made it to our hostel we really only had the evening left to explore. And to be honest, that was enough time – it was nearly 100 degrees fahrenheit, so I don’t think we would have lasted much longer in the sun, and the temperature was much more pleasant later in the day.

We made our first mistake within seconds of leaving the airport – don’t let anyone take your suitcase and put it into the taxi. We had a guy walk up to us and put our bags into the taxi, and we assumed he was the driver, but he ended up demanding a tip from us (and he was not our driver). Lesson learned!

We stayed at Viajero Hostel, which was great and had AC in the rooms. There was also a pool and bar, so if you are looking for a social place to stay, this is a great option.

While you’re in Cartagena, be sure to explore the thriving neighborhood called Getsemani. At sunset, head up to the city walls and grab a cold beer from a vendor to enjoy while looking out at the water.

We didn’t have time for a day trip, but the most popular beach destinations are the Islas Rosarios and Playa Blanca, where you can swim, snorkel, or just relax on the beach with a book.

Tayrona National Park (2 nights)

After our brief stay in the city, we craved nature. So we headed to Tayrona National Park! You’ll notice that we opted for the cheapest options for travel throughout most of this trip, so we decided to book a shuttle bus to Santa Marta and then the public bus towards Palomino. These buses travel back and forth along the Northern coast, and the driver will pretty much let you off wherever you want. We jumped off right outside of The Journey Hostel, which is where we would be spending the next few nights.

The Journey Hostel is in the middle of the jungle, overlooking the mountains and sea. They offer family dinners, which is a great way to meet other travelers and find out what the best things to do in the area are. We also joined the free salsa class!

The next morning, we enjoyed a wonderful (complimentary) breakfast at the hostel before hopping back on the bus to Tayrona National Park. We recommend heading out early, because once you get to the entrance it’s still a 2.5 hour hike to the beaches. We left the hostel at 8am and returned around 5pm (VERY sweaty and with a lot of mosquito bites). The hike itself is nothing too strenuous, but with the high temperature and humid air it took us longer than usual.

We recommend staying at least two nights in Tayrona so you can relax after the hike, and leave the following morning for your next destination.

Palomino (2 nights)

After hearing mixed reviews about Palomino, we really weren’t sure if we would add it to our itinerary. But in the end, we are glad we did! It’s usually described as a sleepy beach town, and apparently it was much more lively before COVID. But it is slowly gaining popularity again! You will find that the majority of the town is just hostel after hostel, with more popping up every month. We chose Bella Flor for the low cost and quiet environment, since we had to get some work done while we were here.

One thing you need to do in Palomino is eat ceviche at La Cevicheria. I think about this meal too often (it was that good). Another popular activity is tubing down the river, which is more relaxing than I thought it would be. I would recommend trying to get a bigger group together to do this, which might make it more exciting.

Minca (3 nights)

Minca is a cute town nestled in the mountains above Santa Marta. We decided to stay in Casa Loma after hearing about the Sunset Bar, and we were not dissapointed. However, the rooms are small and nothing special, so if you are looking for something luxurious there are plenty of places to stay both in Minca and in the surrounding mountains.

One of our favorite parts of Casa Loma was the cafe, where you could order elaborate drip coffees and other fun drinks (mine had a cloud of cotton candy above it that dripped into my hot chocolate). We also walked to the Pozo Azul waterfall and went on a bird watching tour, where we saw 29 different species of birds. Minca is one of the best places to see birds in Colombia, so we definitely recommend doing one of these tours while you’re visiting!

Since we had an evening flight to Medellín, we left our bags at the hostel and hiked to La Candelaria coffee and cacao farm. Here, you can book a cacao tour and learn about the entire chocolate-making process (with samples and a cocoa face mask included!).

Medellín (5 nights)

From Minca, we took a flight to Medellín. We had high expectations for this city after hearing so many great things about it. We chose the Black Sheep Hostel for the first few nights, which wasn’t our favorite hostel so far. After our day trip to Guatapé we switched to Viajero hostel (they have a bunch of locations around Colombia), which was also fine. For some reason we didn’t have the best luck with hostels in this city, but sometimes that happens!

So, what should you do in Medellín? The possibilities are endless in this city. We definitely recommend booking a free walking tour to learn more about the history and why Colombia has had a bad reputation in the past. We learned so much from our tour, and it was clear that our tour guide wanted us to understand how different the country is now, and how hard Colombians have worked to get to where they are today.

One thing that surprised us about Medellín was the metro. It was spotless – there wasn’t a single piece of gum, trash, or anything else on the floor. Our walking tour guide explained to us that the people of Medellín value the metro so much that they would never let it get dirty. Even at rush hour when it was pretty busy, we felt safe at the station.

Another fun activity to do in Medellín is go to a football game! We booked our tickets through a company that picked us up by bus and drove us to the stadium, and it included transportation, our tickets, and some drinks, but if you can find a group to go with it’s definitely better (and way cheaper) to just do it on your own. There are plenty of bars in the area to grab a drink beforehand!

On our other free days, we booked a free walking tour of Comuna 13 to see the art and graffiti and take the escalators up the steep sides of the mountain. We also rode the cable car up to Mira Flores to get a birds-eye view of the entire city.

Guatapé (day trip)

One of the most popular day trips from Medellín is to Guatapé, the town known for the massive rock jutting out of it. It takes a little over 2 hours to get there, so make sure to leave early. Grab lunch at one of the cute restaurants in the center, and leave some time to explore the colorful houses and squares.

There are many companies offering boat tours to see Pablo Escobar’s old estates, so we decided to do this in the afternoon. To be honest, there isn’t a ton to do in Guatapé other than hike up the giant rock, so you definitely only need a day here.

Jericó (1 night)

Spolier alert: Jericó was by far our favorite destination on our entire trip to Colombia. And we hadn’t heard of many other travelers visiting it, which made it feel even more special!

The main square was full of locals playing music and grabbing food from the street vendors. At one point, a bunch of men on horseback passed our hostel and it felt like we were in a movie.

We stayed in Parceritos Hostel, which had the nicest manager (and a very sweet dog!). There were a few other travelers staying here to take a few days to relax before continuing with their backpacking journeys, so we immediately leaned into the chill vibe.

The main activity we did in Jericó was paragliding, which was absolutely amazing. I expected it to be more of an adreneline rush, but in reality it was pretty relaxing to be gliding over the valley.

We seriously considered staying in Jericó longer, but we already had our next hostel booked in Jardín, so in the end we decided to move on (knowing that we would be back one day!)

Jardín (5 nights)

After leaving Jericó, we headed to Jardín on what we thought was a bus, but ended up being a colorful wagon blasting music and tossing us around like rag dolls. We loved it! But the 2 hour drive quickly turned into 4.

By the time we made it to Jardín, we were very happy to check into our next hostel, the Creo Ecolodge. This place is insanely underrated – there is a deck with beautiful views of the mountains, and my complimentary breakfast was a work of art. It’s also the perfect place to stay if you are doing some of the hikes surrounding Jardín since its a bit outside of town.

The number one thing that you should do in Jardín is the Four Waterfalls hike. We recommend doing this hike with at least one other person, because the path can be slippery and it took us almost a full day to complete it. There are also a few spots where you have to pull yourself up or down the rocks to get to the waterfalls.

After a few nights at the Creo Ecolodge, we moved to the Café Racer Hostel to be closer to town. At this point we decided to stay an additional 3 nights in Jardín because we were enjoying it so much and didn’t have our next location booked yet.

A fun activity to do that is off the beaten path is to visit Mirador del Bosque to sample some of their different fruit “wines” (that taste more like vodka than wine). There are a few other cafes overlooking the mountains that are worth checking out, like Mirador del Hererrita, where you can spread out on big hammocks.

For a more detailed itinerary in Jardín, check out our blog post: Why You Need to Visit Jardín, Colombia

Salento (2 nights)

To get to Salento from Jardín, we took a 3 hour bus back to Medellín and then hopped on a 7 hour overnight bus to Salento. We arrived around 3am and were able to go straight to the hostel to leave our bags and take a nap on the couch (I think they are very used to backpackers taking these overnight buses).

We opted to stay in the Coffee Tree hostel for our first two nights because of the great reviews (and the two adorable dogs who live here), despite the high price. On our first day, we walked around town and checked out Calle Real. We also walked up to the mirador to look out over the town. Salento is a charming town, but much smaller than other places we have visited so far.

The hostel organized fun events every night for us to join, so we went out to dinner with the group and played Tejo, a game where you throw rocks at a target that has gunpowder on it and try to make it explode.

The main reason many travelers come to Salento is to hike the Cocora Valley. We spent our last full day on this hike with a few others that we met at the hostel. Although we had heard that the hike took 5-6 hours, we finished it in 3.5. This could be because we are fast walkers, or because we accidentally skipped a portion of the walk… we aren’t exactly sure. Either way, the views were incredible.

If you have extra time, another great activity to do is a coffee tour at Finca Ocaso. It’s not too far from the town center, but we had to cram into the back of a Jeep with a bunch of others to get there and back. You’ll get to pick some coffee beans yourself and of course sample some coffee.

For our last night, we switched to the Corner House Hostel, which is nothing fancy but located right in the town center and a much cheaper option than the Coffee Tree. We had some work to get done, so we visited Café Jesús Martín, which looks exactly like the house from the movie Encanto (which is based in Salento). It’s the perfect place to grab a cup of coffee and relax!

Filandia (day trip)

Filandia is the perfect day trip to escape the touristy town of Salento. With its colorful architecture and beautiful countryside views, it gives off a different vibe than other towns in the country. There is a beautiful colonial blue and white church right on the town square, and there are plenty of small coffee shops to grab a nice cup of coffee. Despite what you might think, it’s actually quite difficult to find a good cup of coffee in Colombia, since the best beans are exported to other countries. So take advantage of the delicious coffee in this region while you can!

Bogotá (4 nights)

From Salento, we took another long bus to Bogotá, where we are finishing up our one month in Colombia! We stayed in Granada Hostel, which we really enjoyed.

There is definitely no shortage of things to do in Bogotá – explore the neighborhood of La Candelaria, take a cable car to the top of Montserrat for a sprawling view of the city, sample fruits from a local fruit market, go out for a fancy 6-course dinner in one of the best food cities of the world (for $50 pp)… the opportunities are endless! We even got haircuts at a small salon for only $4.36 (wash, cut, and blowdry). Bogotá is a beautiful city that is sometimes overlooked by travelers, but we definitely recommend spending a few days here at the beginning or end of your trip.

Don’t forget to try the country’s signature dish, Bandeja Paisa, while you are in Bogotá! We went out to a popular restaurant called La Puerta Falsa with some other backpackers from the hostel and ordered a few traditional dishes. It was delicious (and very filling!).

So, have we convinced you to book those flights yet? Colombia is one of our favorite travel destinations, and for good reason. You’ll find that a month is no where near enough time to see everything – the country is so diverse and has so much to offer! Hopefully you’ve gained some good tips from this article.

Only have two weeks or less to visit this beautiful country? Check out our article on Colombia’s Northern Coast in 1-2 Weeks for a shorter and more detailed itinerary of the northern coast, from Cartagena to Palomino!